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Erasing People From History By Damnatio Memoriae

October 15, 2015

Written byCuriosity Staff

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Historians can't be sure if the Romans ever successfully accomplished damnatio memoriae. After all, if they did, we would have no record of it. We do know that they tried to erase Emperor Geta from history -- there's evidence of his face scratched out of artwork. Roman Emperor Maxentius was another victim of damnatio memoriae in 312 AD, attempted at the hands of Emperor Constantine. And it wasn't just the Romans: Stalin, for example, was known to erase the faces of people he didn't like from photographs.